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Not on display

Last Year at Marienbad

Costume
1961 (designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Film costume worn by Delphine Seyrig in Last Year at Marienbad, designed by Coco Chanel, 1961.

Last Year at Marienbad (1961) was Alain Resnais’s second film. The film’s narrative is an enigma; the present and the past, the real and the imaginary, are interwoven until they cannot be separated. Coco Chanel designed the costumes for Delphine Seyrig. The film, the costumes and the production design have inspired generations of artists and film historians, who consider the film one of the most important of the French ‘new wave’ cinema.

The British Film Institute (BFI) acquired its costume collection for display at the Museum of the Moving Image, which existed on the South Bank in London between 1988 and 1999. The collection is made up of British, European, American and Japanese films and covers the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. It contains a wealth of historic and significant film costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.

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read What makes CHANEL so iconic? During her 60-year career, fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel (1883 – 1971) took a consistent and considered approach to her aesthetic.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleLast Year at Marienbad (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Sewn chiffon and satin
Brief description
Film costume worn by Delphine Seyrig in Last Year at Marienbad, designed by Coco Chanel, 1961
Physical description
Knee-length dress worn by Delphine Seyrig in Last Year at Marienbad made of black chiffon with pleated ruffles sewn vertically onto the dress. The ruffles increase in size from the bodice to the hem of the skirt. The dress is lined with black satin. The back of the dress has a large satin bow attached at the waist. There are matching black satin straps.
Dimensions
  • Length: 101cm (approximately) (Note: Length measured with straps. Without the straps length measured is 88cm.)
  • Waist width: 31cm (approximately)
Credit line
Given by the British Film Institute
Summary
Film costume worn by Delphine Seyrig in Last Year at Marienbad, designed by Coco Chanel, 1961.

Last Year at Marienbad (1961) was Alain Resnais’s second film. The film’s narrative is an enigma; the present and the past, the real and the imaginary, are interwoven until they cannot be separated. Coco Chanel designed the costumes for Delphine Seyrig. The film, the costumes and the production design have inspired generations of artists and film historians, who consider the film one of the most important of the French ‘new wave’ cinema.

The British Film Institute (BFI) acquired its costume collection for display at the Museum of the Moving Image, which existed on the South Bank in London between 1988 and 1999. The collection is made up of British, European, American and Japanese films and covers the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. It contains a wealth of historic and significant film costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.
Collection
Accession number
S.1645-2015

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Record createdMay 29, 2015
Record URL
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